Gellius: NOCTES ATTICAE

I. Disceptatio Sex. Caecilii iureconsulti et Favorini philosophi de legibus duodecim tabularum.I. Sextus Caecilius in disciplina iuris atque in legibus populi Romani noscendis interpretandisque scientia, usu auctoritateque inlustri fuit. II. Ad eum forte in area Palatina, cum salutationem Caesaris opperiremur, philosophus Favorinus accessit conlocutusque est nobis multisque aliis praesentibus.

1. Discussion of the jurist Sextus Caecilius and the philosopher Favorinus about the laws of the Twelve Tables.1. Sextus Caecilius, in the discipline of law and in learning and interpreting the laws of the Roman people, was illustrious in knowledge, in practice, and in authority. 2. To him, by chance in the Palatine area, while we were awaiting Caesar’s salutation, the philosopher Favorinus came and conversed with us, many others also being present.

III. In illis tunc eorum sermonibus orta mentiost legum decemviralium, quas decemviri eius rei gratia a populo creati conposuerunt, in duodecim tabulas conscripserunt. IV. Eas leges cum Sex.

3. Then in those conversations of theirs mention arose of the decemviral laws, which the decemvirs, created by the people for that purpose, composed and wrote into twelve tables. 4. Those laws, when Sex.

Caecilius inquisitis exploratisque multarum urbium legibus eleganti atque absoluta brevitate verborum scriptas diceret, "sit" inquit "hoc" Favorinus "in pleraque earum legum parte ita, uti dicis; non enim minus cupide tabulas istas duodecim legi quam illos duodecim libros Platonis de legibus. Sed quaedam istic esse animadvertuntur aut obscurissima aut durissima aut lenia contra nimis et remissa aut nequaquam ita, ut scriptum est, consistentia." V. "Obscuritates" inquit Sex. Caecilius "non adsignemus culpae scribentium, sed inscitiae non adsequentium, quamquam hi quoque ipsi, qui, quae scripta sunt, minus percipiunt, culpa vacant.

As Caecilius would say that, with the laws of many cities having been inquired into and explored, they had been written with an elegant and absolute brevity of words, "let this be," said Favorinus, "in the greater part of those laws as you say; for I no less eagerly read those Twelve Tables than those twelve books of Plato On the Laws. But certain things there are observed to be either most obscure or most harsh, or, on the contrary, too mild and remiss, or by no means consistent as it is written." 5. "The obscurities," said Sextus Caecilius, "let us not assign to the fault of the writers, but to the ignorance of those who do not follow up, although these very men also, who less grasp the things that are written, are free from fault.

VI. Nam longa aetas verba atque mores veteres oblitteravit, quibus verbis moribusque sententia legum conprehensa est. Trecentesimo quippe anno post Romam conditam tabulae conpositae scriptaeque sunt, a quo tempore ad hunc diem anni esse non longe minus sescenti videntur. VII.

6. For a long age has obliterated the words and the ancient mores, by which words and mores the sense of the laws is comprehended. In the 300th year after Rome was founded the tablets were composed and written, from which time to this day the years seem to be not far less than 600. 7.

Dure autem scriptum esse in istis legibus quid existimari potest? nisi duram esse legem putas, quae iudicem arbitrumve iure datum, qui ob rem dicendam pecuniam accepisse convictus est, capite poenitur aut quae furem manifestum ei, cui furtum factum est, in servitutem tradit, nocturnum autem furem ius occidendi tribuit. VIII.

But what can be thought to be written harshly in those laws? unless you think harsh a law which punishes with capital punishment a judge or arbiter appointed by law, who has been convicted of having accepted money for the sake of pronouncing judgment; or one which hands over the manifest thief into servitude to the person against whom the theft was committed, and which grants the right of killing a nocturnal thief. VIII.

Dic enim, quaeso, dic, vir sapientiae studiosissime, an aut iudicis illius perfidiam contra omnia iura divina atque humana iusiurandum suum pecunia vendentis aut furis manifesti intolerandam audaciam aut nocturni grassatoris insidiosam violentiam non dignam esse capitis poena existumes?" IX. "Noli" inquit Favorinus "ex me quaerere, quid ego existumem. Scis enim solitum esse me pro disciplina sectae, quam colo, inquirere potius quam decernere. X. Sed non levis existimator neque aspernabilis est populus Romanus, cui delicta quidem istaec vindicanda, poenae tamen huiuscemodi nimis durae esse visae sunt; passus enim est leges istas de tam inmodico supplicio situ atque senio emori.

Say then, I pray, say, man most studious of wisdom, whether you deem either the perfidy of that judge, selling for money his oath against all divine and human laws, or the intolerable audacity of a manifest thief, or the insidious violence of a nocturnal footpad, not worthy of capital punishment?" 9. "Do not," says Favorinus, "ask of me what I think. For you know that I am wont, according to the discipline of the sect which I cultivate, to inquire rather than to decree. 10. But the Roman people is no light estimator nor to be spurned, for whom indeed those offenses were to be avenged, yet punishments of this kind seemed too harsh; for he allowed those laws about so immoderate a penalty to die of disuse and age.

XI. Sicut illud quoque non humaniter scriptum improbavit, quod, si homo in ius vocatus morbo aut aetate aeger ad ingrediendum invalidus est, arcera non sternitur, sed ipse aufertur et iumento imponitur atque ex domo sua ad praetorem in comitium nova funeris facie effertur. Quam enim ob causam morbo adfectus et ad respondendum pro sese non idoneus iumento adhaerens in ius adversario deportatur? XII.

11. Just as he likewise disapproved as not humanely written this too: that, if a man summoned into court is, by sickness or by age, ill and too infirm to enter, a litter is not laid, but he himself is carried off and set upon a beast of burden and is borne out from his own house to the praetor in the Comitium with a novel semblance of a funeral. For what reason, indeed, is a man afflicted by illness and not fit to respond on his own behalf, clinging to a beast of burden, carried into court to his adversary? 12.

Quod vero dixi videri quaedam esse inpendio molliora, nonne tibi quoque videtur nimis esse dilutum, quod ita de iniuria poenienda scriptum est: "Si iniuriam alteri faxit, viginti quinque aeris poenae sunto." Quis enim erit tam inops, quem ab iniuriae faciendae libidine viginti quinque asses deterreant? XIII. Itaque cum eam legem Labeo quoque vester in libris quos ad duodecim tabulas conscripsit, non probaret: "..." inquit "L. Veratius fuit egregie homo inprobus atque inmani vecordia.

But as to what I said—that some provisions seem exceedingly too mild—does it not also seem to you to be too diluted that it is thus written about punishing injury: "If someone shall do injury to another, let there be a penalty of twenty-five asses of bronze"? For who will be so needy that twenty-five asses would deter him from the lust of doing injury? 13. And so, since your Labeo too, in the books which he composed on the Twelve Tables, did not approve that law: "..." he says, "L. Veratius was a remarkably wicked man and of monstrous derangement."

Is pro delectamento habebat os hominis liberi manus suae palma verberare. Eum servus sequebatur ferens crumenam plenam assium; ut quemque depalmaverat, numerari statim secundum duodecim tabulas quinque et viginti asses iubebat." Propterea" inquit "praetores postea hanc abolescere et relinqui censuerunt iniuriisque aestumandis recuperatores se daturos edixerunt. XIV.

He had as a delectation to beat with the palm of his own hand the face of a free man. A slave followed him carrying a purse full of asses; whomever he had struck with the palm, he ordered twenty-five asses to be counted out immediately according to the Twelve Tables." "For this reason," he says, "the praetors afterward resolved that this should grow obsolete and be left aside, and by edict declared that they would appoint recuperators for assessing injuries. 14.

Nonnulla autem in istis legibus ne consistere quidem, sicuti dixi, visa sunt, velut illa lex talionis, cuius verba, nisi memoria me fallit, haec sunt: "si membrum rupit, ni cum e pacto, talio esto." XV. Praeter enim ulciscendi acerbitatem ne procedere quoque exsecutio iustae talionis potest. Nam cui membrum ab alio ruptum est, si ipsi itidem rumpere per talionem velit, quaero, an efficere possit rumpendi pariter membri aequilibrium? In qua re primum ea difficultas est inexplicabilis.

But some items in those laws did not even seem to stand firm, as I said, for example that law of talion, whose words, unless memory fails me, are these: "If he breaks a limb, unless with him it be by pact, let there be talion." 15. For beyond the acerbity of avenging, the execution of just talion cannot even proceed. For the one whose limb has been broken by another—if he likewise wishes to break in turn by talion—I ask whether he can bring about an equilibrium in the breaking of the limb equally. In which matter, first of all, that difficulty is inexplicable.

XVI. Quid si membrum" inquit "alteri inprudens ruperit? quod enim per inprudentiam factum est, retaliari per inprudentiam debet.

16. "What if a member," he says, "has been broken to another imprudently? For what has been done through imprudence ought to be retaliated through imprudence."

Ictus quippe fortuitus et consultus non cadunt sub eiusdem talionis similitudinem. Quonam igitur modo inprudentem poterit imitari, qui in exsequenda talione non licentiae ius habet, sed inprudentiae? XVII.

For indeed a fortuitous blow and a premeditated blow do not fall under the likeness of the same talion. How, then, will he be able to imitate the imprudent one, who, in executing the talion, has not the right of license, but of imprudence? 17.

Sed et si prudens ruperit, nequaquam patietur aut altius se laedi aut latius. Quod cuiusmodi libra atque mensura caveri possit, non reperio. XVIII.

But even if he should knowingly break it, by no means will he suffer himself to be injured either more deeply or more broadly. By what sort of balance and measure this could be guarded against, I do not find. 18.

Quin etiam, si quid plus erit aliterve conmissum, res fiet ridiculae atrocitatis, ut contraria actio mutuae talionis oriatur et adolescat infinita quaedam reciprocatio talionum. XIX. Nam de inmanitate illa secandi partiendique humani corporis, si unus ob pecuniam debitam iudicatus addictusque sit pluribus, non libet meminisse et piget dicere.

Indeed even, if anything more shall have been or otherwise committed, the matter will become one of laughable atrocity, so that a contrary action of mutual talion arises and a certain infinite reciprocation of talions grows. 19. For of that monstrosity of cutting and partitioning the human body, if one man, on account of money owed, has been adjudged and assigned to several, I do not care to remember, and I am loath to speak.

Quid enim videri potest efferatius, quid ab hominis ingenio diversius, quam quod membra et artus inopis debitoris saevissimo laniatu distrahebantur, sicuti nunc bona venum distrahuntur?" XX. Tum Sex. Caecilius amplexus utraque manu Favorinum "tu es" inquit "unus profecto in nostra memoria non Graiae modo, sed Romanae quoque rei peritissimus. Quis enim philosophorum disciplinae suae leges tam scite atque docte callet, quam leges tu nostras decemvirales percalluisti?

For what, indeed, can seem more ferocious, what more divergent from a human ingenium, than that the limbs and joints of a needy debtor were torn apart by a most savage rending, just as now goods are auctioned off?" 20. Then Sextus Caecilius, embracing Favorinus with both hands, said, "you are," he said, "surely the one man in our memory most expert not only in the Greek matter, but in the Roman matter as well. For who among the philosophers knows the laws of his own disciplina so neatly and learnedly as you have thoroughly mastered our decemviral laws?

XXI. sed quaeso tecum tamen, degrediare paulisper e curriculis istis disputationum vestrarum academicis omissoque studio, quicquid lubitum est, arguendi tuendique, consideres gravius, cuimodi sint ea, quae reprehendisti, nec ideo contemnas legum istarum antiquitates, quod plerisque ipse iam populus Romanus uti desiverit. XXII.

21. but I pray you, nevertheless, step down for a little while from those race-courses of your Academic disputations and, your zeal set aside for whatever has pleased—of arguing and of defending—consider more gravely of what sort are those things which you have reprehended, nor on that account contemn the antiquities of those laws, because the Roman people themselves have already ceased to use most of them. 22.

Non enim profecto ignoras legum opportunitates et medelas pro temporum moribus et pro rerum publicarum generibus ac pro utilitatum praesentium rationibus proque vitiorum, quibus medendum est, fervoribus mutari atque flecti neque uno statu consistere, quin, ut facies caeli et maris, ita rerum atque fortunae tempestatibus varientur. XXIII. Quid salubrius visum est rogatione illa Stolonis iugerum de numero praefinito?

For you are surely not ignorant that the opportunities and remedies of laws are changed and bent according to the mores of the times and the kinds of commonwealths and the considerations of present utilities and the fervors of the vices that must be healed, nor do they stand in a single state; indeed, as the face of sky and sea, so are they varied by the tempests of affairs and fortune. 23. What has seemed more health-giving than that rogation of Stolo concerning the fixed number of iugera?

quid utilius plebisscito Voconio de coercendis mulierum hereditatibus? quid tam necessarium existimatum est propulsandae civium luxuriae quam lex Licinia et Fannia aliaeque item leges sumptuariae? Omnia tamen haec oblitterata et operta sunt civitatis opulentia quasi quibusdam fluctibus exaestuantis.

what more useful than the Voconian plebiscite about restraining women’s inheritances? what was thought so necessary for repelling the luxury of the citizens as the Licinian and Fannian law and likewise other sumptuary laws? Nevertheless, all these have been obliterated and covered over by the opulence of the commonwealth, as if by certain surging billows.

XXIV. Sed cur tibi esse visa est inhumana lex omnium mea quidem sententia humanissima, quae iumentum dari iubet aegro aut seni in ius vocato? Verba sunt haec de lege "si in ius vocat": XXV.

24. But why did the law seem to you inhuman which, in my opinion, is the most humane of all, which orders that a beast of burden be given to a sick man or an old man when summoned into court? The words of the law are these: "if he summons into court": 25.

"Si morbus aevitasve vitium escit, qui in ius vocabit, iumentum dato; si nolet, arceram ne sternito." XXVI. An tu forte morbum appellari hic putas aegrotationem gravem cum febri rapida et quercera iumentumque dici pecus aliquod unicum tergo vehens? ac propterea minus fuisse humanum existumas aegrotum domi suae cubantem iumento inpositum in ius rapi?

"If disease or the defect of age shall exist, let him who summons to court give a beast of burden; if he is unwilling, let him not provide a covered carriage." 26. Or do you perchance think that here “disease” is called a grave sickening with a rapid fever and a quartane, and that “beast of burden” is said to be some single animal carrying on its back? and therefore do you suppose it was less humane that a sick man, lying at his own home, be dragged into court, placed upon a beast of burden?

Hoc, mi Favorine, nequaquam ita est. XXVII. Nam "morbus" in lege ista non febriculosus neque nimium gravis, sed vitium aliquod inbecillitatis atque invalentiae demonstratur, non periculum vitae ostenditur.

This, my Favorinus, is by no means so. 27. For “morbus” in that law is understood not as a feverish or excessively severe condition, but some defect of debility and infirmity is indicated; no danger to life is set forth.

Ceteroqui morbum vehementiorem vim graviter nocendi habentem legum istarum scriptores alio in loco non per se "morbum", sed "morbum sonticum" appellant. XXVIII. "Iumentum" quoque non id solum significat, quod nunc dicitur; sed vectaculum etiam, quod adiunctis pecoribus trahebatur, veteres nostri "iumentum" a "iungendo" dixerunt.

Moreover, the writers of those laws, in another place, do not call a more vehement disease, one possessing a force of harming grievously, simply "disease," but "sontic disease." 28. "Iumentum" too does not signify only what it now denotes; but also a conveyance, which was drawn by yoked cattle, our ancients called "iumentum" from "iungendo."

XXIX. "Arcera" autem vocabatur plaustrum tectum undique et munitum quasi arca quaedam magna vestimentis instrata, qua nimis aegri aut senes portari cubantes solebant. XXX.

29. "Arcera," however, was the name for a wagon covered on all sides and fortified, as if a certain great ark, spread with vestments, in which the very sick or the elderly, lying down, used to be carried. 30.

Quaenam tibi igitur acerbitas esse visa est, quod in ius vocato paupertino homini vel inopi, qui aut pedibus forte aegris esset aut quo alio casu ingredi non quiret, plaustrum esse dandum censuerunt? neque insterni tamen delicate, arceram iusserunt, quoniam satis esset invalido cuimodi vectaculum. Atque id fecerunt, ne causatio ista aegri corporis perpetuam vacationem daret fidem detractantibus iurisque actiones declinantibus.

What harshness, then, seemed to you to be present in this: that, for a man summoned into court, a pauper or one in need, who either happened to have ailing feet or by some other mishap could not go on foot, they judged that a wagon should be given? Nor, however, did they order that the arcera be delicately lined, since for the infirm any sort of conveyance was enough. And they did this, lest that plea of a sick body should grant a perpetual exemption to those shirking their good faith and declining actions-at-law.

XXXI. Sed enim ipsum vide. Iniurias factas quinque et viginti assibus sanxerunt.

CHAPTER 31. But indeed look at the thing itself. They sanctioned injuries done at twenty-five asses.

Non omnino omnes, mi Favorine, iniurias aere isto pauco diluerunt, tametsi haec ipsa paucitas assium grave pondus aeris fuit; nam librariis assibus in ea tempestate populus usus est. XXXII. Sed iniurias atrociores, ut de osse fracto, non liberis modo, verum etiam servis factas inpensiore damno vindicaverunt, quibusdam autem iniuriis talionem quoque adposuerunt.

Not at all did they, my Favorinus, wash away all injuries with that little bronze, although this very fewness of asses was a heavy weight of bronze; for in that period the people used libral (pound) asses. 32. But the more atrocious injuries, such as in the case of a broken bone, done not only to free persons but even to slaves, they vindicated with a costlier damage-penalty, and for certain injuries they also added talion (retaliation in kind).

XXXIII. Quam quidem tu talionem, vir optime, iniquius paulo insectatus es ac ne consistere quidem dixisti lepida quadam sollertia verborum, quoniam talioni par non sit talio neque rumpi membrum facile possit ad alterius rupturae, ut ais tu, "aequilibrium". XXXIV. Verum est, mi Favorine, talionem parissimam fieri difficillime.

33. Indeed this talion, most excellent sir, you attacked somewhat too unfairly and even said it could not stand at all, by a certain witty cleverness of words, since talion is not equal to talion, nor can a limb be easily broken to the “equilibrium,” as you say, of another’s fracture. 34. It is true, my Favorinus, that the most equal talion is most difficult to effect.

Sed decemviri minuere atque exstinguere volentes huiuscemodi violentiam pulsandi atque laedendi talione, eo quoque metu coercendos esse homines putaverunt neque eius, qui membrum alteri rupisset et pacisci tamen de talione redimenda nollet, tantam esse habendam rationem arbitrati sunt, ut, an prudens inprudensne rupisset, spectandum putarent aut talionem in eo vel ad amussim aequiperarent vel in librili perpenderent; sed potius eundem animum eundemque impetum in eadem parte corporis rumpenda, non eundem quoque casum exigi voluerunt, quoniam modus voluntatis praestari posset, casus ictus non posset. XXXV. Quod si ita est, ut dico et ut ipse aequitatis habitus demonstrat, taliones illae tuae reciprocae argutiores profecto quam veriores fuerunt.

But the decemvirs, wishing to lessen and extinguish the violence of this sort of beating and injuring by talion, thought that men were to be restrained by that fear as well, nor did they judge that so great consideration should be had for the man who had broken a limb to another and yet was unwilling to make a pact for redeeming the talion, that they should look to whether he had broken it wittingly or unwittingly, or should either equal the talion to the plumb-line exactly or weigh it out on a little balance; but rather they wished that the same intention and the same impetus for breaking in the same part of the body be exacted, not the same accident as well, since a measure of will could be guaranteed, the accident of the stroke could not. 35. But if this is so, as I say and as the very disposition of equity shows, those your reciprocal talions were assuredly more clever than more true.

XXXVI. Sed quoniam acerbum quoque esse hoc genus poenae putas, vae, obsecro te, ista acerbitas est, si idem fiat in te, quod tute in alio feceris? praesertim cum habeas facultatem paciscendi et non necesse sit pati talionem, nisi eam tu elegeris.

36. But since you think this kind of penalty to be bitter as well, alas, I beseech you, what acerbity is that, if the same be done to you that you yourself have done to another? especially since you have the faculty of making a pact and it is not necessary to suffer talion, unless you yourself choose it.

XXXVII. Quod edictum autem praetorum de aestimandis iniuriis probabilius esse existimas nolo hoc ignores hanc quoque ipsam talionem ad aestimationem iudicis redigi necessario solitam. XXXVIII.

37. But as for the edict of the praetors on the estimating of injuries, which you consider to be more probable, I do not want you to be unaware that this very talion too has also been accustomed necessarily to be reduced to the judge’s estimation. 38.

Nam si reus, qui depecisci noluerat, iudici talionem imperanti non parebat, aestimata lite iudex hominem pecuniae damnabat, atque ita, si reo et pactio gravis et acerba talio visa fuerat, severitas legis ad pecuniae multam redibat. XXXIX. Restat, ut ei, quod de sectione partitioneque corporis inmanissimum esse tibi visum est, respondeam.

For if the defendant, who had been unwilling to make a paction, did not obey the judge ordering talion, the suit having been assessed the judge condemned the man to pay money; and thus, if to the defendant both the paction had seemed grievous and the talion bitter, the severity of the law reverted to a pecuniary fine. 39. It remains that I respond to that which has seemed to you most monstrous concerning the section and partition of the body.

Omnibus quidem virtutum generibus exercendis colendisque populus Romanus e parva origine ad tantae amplitudinis instar emicuit, sed omnium maxime atque praecipue fidem coluit sanctamque habuit tam privatim quam publice. XL. Sic consules, clarissimos viros, hostibus confirmandae fidei publicae causa dedidit, sic clientem in fidem acceptum cariorem haberi quam propinquos tuendumque esse contra cognatos censuit, neque peius ullum facinus existimatum est, quam si qui probaretur clientem divisui habuisse. XLI.

In the exercising and cultivating indeed of all kinds of virtues the Roman people from a small origin sprang forth to the stature of such great amplitude, but of all things most and especially it cultivated fidelity and held it sacred both in private and in public. XL. Thus it surrendered consuls, most illustrious men, to enemies for the sake of confirming the public fidelity; thus it judged that a client received into protection should be held dearer than near relations and should be defended against kinsmen; nor was any deed considered worse than if anyone were proved to have had a client for division, as spoil to be divided. XLI.

Hanc autem fidem maiores nostri non modo in officiorum vicibus, sed in negotiorum quoque contractibus sanxerunt maximeque in pecuniae mutuaticae usu atque commercio: adimi enim putaverunt subsidium hoc inopiae temporariae, quo communis omnium vita indiget, si perfidia debitorum sine gravi poena eluderet. XLII. Confessi igitur aeris ac debiti iudicatis triginta dies sunt dati conquirendae pecuniae causa, quam dissoluerent, eosque dies decemviri "iustos" appellaverunt, XLIII.

But our ancestors sanctioned this faith not only in the reciprocities of duties, but also in the contracts of business, and most of all in the use and commerce of money lent: for they thought that this subsidy for temporary indigence, which the common life of all requires, would be taken away, if the perfidy of debtors should evade without a grave penalty. 42. Therefore, to confessed debtors (of money) and to those who had been adjudged, thirty days were granted for the purpose of procuring the money with which they might discharge it, and the decemvirs called those days "lawful," 43.

velut quoddam iustitium, id est iuris inter eos quasi interstitionem quandam et cessationem, quibus diebus nihil cum his agi iure posset. XLIV. Post deinde, nisi dissoluerant, ad praetorem vocabantur et ab eo, quibus erant iudicati, addicebantur, nervo quoque aut compedibus vinciebantur.

as a kind of iustitium, that is, a certain interstition and cessation of the law between them, on which days nothing could be transacted with them by right. 44. Afterwards then, unless they had paid, they were summoned to the praetor and by him were adjudged to those to whom they had been judged, and they were bound also with the stock or with fetters.

XLV. Sic enim sunt, opinor, verba legis: "Aeris confessi rebusque iure iudicatis triginta dies iusti sunto. Post deinde manus iniectio esto, in ius ducito.

45. For thus, I suppose, are the words of the law: "Of confessed debt and of matters adjudged by law, let there be thirty lawful days. After that, let there be hand-seizure; lead him into court.

Ni iudicatum facit aut quis endo eo in iure vindicit, secum ducito, vincito aut nervo aut compedibus. Quindecim pondo ne minore aut si volet maiore vincito. Si volet, suo vivito.

If he does not make good the adjudged amount, and no one in court vindicates him in his case, lead him away with you; bind him either with a thong or with fetters. Bind him with not less than 15 pounds, or, if you wish, with more. If he wishes, let him live on his own.

Ni suo vivit, qui eum vinctum habebit, libras farris endo dies dato. Si volet, plus dato." XLVI. Erat autem ius interea paciscendi ac, nisi pacti forent, habebantur in vinculis dies sexaginta.

If he does not live on his own, he who has him bound shall give a pound of far (spelt) per day; if he wishes, he may give more." 46. Moreover, there was in the meantime a right of making a pact, and, unless they had made a pact, they were held in fetters for 60 days.

XLVII. Inter eos dies trinis nundinis continuis ad praetorem in comitium producebantur, quantaeque pecuniae iudicati essent, praedicabatur. Tertiis autem nundinis capite poenas dabant aut trans Tiberim peregre venum ibant.

47. During those days, on three successive market-days they were brought before the praetor into the Comitium, and it was proclaimed for how much money they had been adjudged. But on the third market-day they paid the penalty with their head, or went across the Tiber to be sold abroad.

XLVIII. Sed eam capitis poenam sanciendae, sicuti dixi, fidei gratia horrificam atrocitatis ostentu novisque terroribus metuendam reddiderunt. Nam si plures forent, quibus reus esset iudicatus, secare, si vellent, atque partiri corpus addicti sibi hominis permiserunt.

48. But that capital penalty, for the sake of sanctioning, as I said, good faith, they rendered horrific by an ostentation of atrocity and to be dreaded by new terrors. For if there were several to whom the defendant had been adjudged, they permitted them, if they wished, to cut up and to partition the body of the man adjudged to them.

XLIX. Et quidem verba ipsa legis dicam, ne existimes invidiam me istam forte formidare: "Tertiis" inquit "nundinis partis secanto. Si plus minusve secuerunt, se fraude esto." L. Nihil profecto inmitius, nihil inmanius, nisi, ut reapse apparet, eo consilio tanta inmanitas poenae denuntiatast, ne ad eam umquam perveniretur.

49. And indeed I will speak the very words of the law, lest you suppose that I perhaps fear that odium: "On the third market-day let them cut him into parts. If they have cut more or less, let it be accounted no fraud." 50. Nothing surely more unmerciful, nothing more inhuman, unless, as in reality appears, with this counsel so great an inhumanity of the penalty was proclaimed, in order that it might never be reached.

LI. Addici namque nunc et vinciri multos videmus, quia vinculorum poenam deterrimi homines contemnunt, LII. dissectum esse antiquitus neminem equidem neque legi neque audivi, quoniam saevitia ista poenae contemni non quitast. LIII.

51. For now we see many adjudged and bound, because the most depraved men contemn the penalty of bonds, 52. but that anyone was of old dissected, I for my part have neither read nor heard, since that savagery of a penalty cannot be contemned. 53.

An putas, Favorine, si non illa etiam ex duodecim tabulis de testimoniis falsis poena abolevisset et si nunc quoque, ut antea, qui falsum testimonium dixisse convictus esset, e saxo Tarpeio deiceretur, mentituros fuisse pro testimonio tam multos, quam videmus? Acerbitas plerumque ulciscendi maleficii bene atque caute vivendi disciplinast. LIV.

Do you think, Favorinus, if that penalty too from the Twelve Tables concerning false testimonies had not been abolished, and if even now, as before, whoever had been convicted of having given false testimony were cast down from the Tarpeian Rock, that so many would have lied in testimony as we see? The bitterness of avenging malefice is for the most part a discipline of living well and cautiously. 54.

Historia de Metto Fufetio Albano nobis quoque non admodum numero istiusmodi libros lectitantibus ignota non est, qui, quoniam pactum atque condictum cum rege populi Romani perfide ruperat, binis quadrigis evinctus in diversa nitentibus laceratus est. Novum atque asperum supplicium quis negat? sed, quid elegantissimus poeta dicat, vide: at tu dictis, Albane, maneres." LV. Haec taliaque alia ubi Sextus Caecilius omnibus, qui aderant, ipso quoque Favorino adprobante atque laudante disseruit, nuntiatum est Caesarem iam salutari, et separati sumus.

The story about Mettius Fufetius the Alban is not unknown even to us, who do not peruse in great number books of this sort, who, since he had perfidiously broken the pact and stipulation with the king of the Roman people, was bound fast to two four-horse chariots straining in opposite directions and was torn apart. Who denies that it was a novel and harsh punishment? But see what the most elegant poet says: “but you, Alban, would that you had kept to your words.” 55. When Sextus Caecilius had discoursed on these and other such things to all who were present, Favorinus himself also approving and praising, it was announced that Caesar was now being saluted, and we parted.

II. Vocabulum "siticinum" in M. Catonis oratione quid significet.I. "Siticines" scriptum est in oratione M. Catonis, quae scribitur ne imperium sit veteri, ubi novus venerit. "Siticines" inquit "et liticines et tubicines." II. Sed Caesellius Vindex in conmentariis lectionum antiquarum scire quidem se ait liticines lituo cantare et tubicines tuba; quid istuc autem sit, quo siticines cantant, homo ingenuae veritatis scire sese negat. III.

2. What the vocable "siticinum" signifies in the oration of M. Cato.1. "Siticines" is written in the oration of M. Cato, which is written "lest command be the old one’s, when a new one has come." "Siticines," he says, "and liticines and tubicines." 2. But Caesellius Vindex in the commentaries of ancient readings says that he does indeed know that the liticines sound with the lituus and the tubicines with the tuba; but what that thing is, with which the siticines sound, the man of ingenuous truthfulness says he does not know. 3.

Nos autem in Capitonis Atei coniectaneis invenimus "siticines" appellatos, qui apud sitos canere soliti essent, hoc est vita functos et sepultos, eosque habuisse proprium genus tubae, qua canerent, a ceterorum tubicinum differens.

We, however, in the Conjectanea of Ateius Capito have found that “siticines” were so called who were accustomed to play among the “siti,” that is, those who had finished life and been buried, and that they had a proper kind of trumpet with which they played, differing from that of the other trumpeters.

III. Quam ob causam L. Accius poeta in pragmaticis sicinnistas "nebuloso nomine" esse dixerit.I. Quos "sicinistas" vulgus dicit, qui rectius locuti sunt, "sicinnistas" "n" littera gemina dixerunt. II. Sicinnium enim genus veteris saltationis fuit. Saltabundi autem canebant, quae nunc stantes canunt.

3. For what cause the poet L. Accius in the Pragmatics said that the sicinnistae are "of a nebulous name."1. Those whom the vulgus calls "sicinistae," those who have spoken more correctly have said "sicinnistae," with the letter "n" doubled. 2. For the Sicinnium was a kind of ancient saltation. But those dancing used to sing what now they sing standing.

III. Posuit hoc verbum L. Accius poeta in pragmaticis appellarique "sicinnistas" ait "nebuloso nomine"; credo propterea "nebuloso", quod, sicinnium cur diceretur, obscurum esset.

III. L. Accius the poet, in the Pragmatics, set down this word and says that “sicinnists” are called by a “nebulous name”; I believe “nebulous” for this reason, because why it was called a “sicinnium” was obscure.

IV. Artificum scaenicorum studium amoremque inhonestum probrosumque esse; et super ea re verba Aristotelis philosophi adscripta.I. Comoedos quispiam et tragoedos et tibicines dives adulescens, Tauri philosophi discipulus, ut liberos homines in deliciis atque in delectamentis habebat. II. Id genus autem artifices Graece appellantur hoi peri ton Dionyson technitai. III.

4. That the zeal and love of stage artisans is dishonorable and disgraceful; and on that matter words of the philosopher Aristotle are appended.1. A certain wealthy young man, a disciple of the philosopher Taurus, had comedians and tragedians and flute-players as though free men, in indulgences and delights. 2. But artisans of that kind in Greek are called hoi peri ton Dionyson technitai. 3.

Eum adulescentem Taurus a sodalitatibus convictuque hominum scaenicorum abducere volens misit ei verba haec ex Aristotelis libro exscripta, qui problemata enkyklia inscriptus est, iussitque uti ea cotidie lectitaret: IV. Dia ti hoi Dionysiakoi technitai hos epi to poly poneroi eisin? hoti hekista logou kai philosophias koinonousi dia to poly meros tou biou einai, kai hoti en akrasiais ton polyn chronon eisin, hote de en aporiais; amphotera de phaulotetos paraskevastika.

Wishing to draw that young man away from the fraternities and the companionship of theatrical men, Taurus sent to him these words copied from a book of Aristotle, which is entitled Encyclical Problems, and he ordered him to read them daily: 4. Why are the Dionysiac artists for the most part wicked? Because they share least in reason (logos) and philosophy, since for the greater part of life they are so, and because they spend much time in intemperances (akrasiai), and at other times in difficulties (aporiae); and both are preparative of baseness.

V. Exempla epistularum Alexandri regis et Aristotelis philosophi Graeca ita uti sunt edita; eaque in linguam Latinam versa.I. Commentationum suarum artiumque, quas discipulis tradebat, Aristoteles philosophus, regis Alexandri magister, duas species habuisse dicitur. Alia erant, quae nominabat exoterika, alia quae appellabat akroatika. II. Exoterika dicebantur quae ad rhetoricas meditationes facultatemque argutiarum civiliumque rerum notitiam conducebant, III.

5. Examples of the letters of King Alexander and of the philosopher Aristotle in Greek just as they were published; and these turned into the Latin language.1. Of his commentations and of the arts which he handed down to his pupils, Aristotle the philosopher, teacher of King Alexander, is said to have had two kinds. Some were those which he called exoterika, others which he called akroatika. 2. Exoterika were so called as those which conduced to rhetorical meditations and to the faculty of subtleties and to the knowledge of civic matters, 3.

akroatika autem vocabantur, in quibus philosophia remotior subtiliorque agitabatur quaeque ad naturae contemplationes disceptationesve dialecticas pertinebant. IV. Huic disciplinae, quam dixi, akroatikei tempus exercendae dabat in Lycio matutinum nec ad eam quemquam temere admittebat, nisi quorum ante ingenium et eruditionis elementa atque in discendo studium laboremque explorasset. V. Illas vero exotericas auditiones exercitiumque dicendi eodem in loco vesperi faciebat easque vulgo iuvenibus sine dilectu praebebat, atque eum deilinon peripateton appellabat, illum alterum supra heothinon; utroque enim tempore ambulans disserebat.

akroatika, however, were called those in which a more remote and subtler philosophy was pursued, and which pertained to contemplations of nature and to dialectic disputations. 4. For this discipline, which I have said is akroatike, he allotted the morning time for practice in the Lyceum, nor did he rashly admit anyone to it, unless he had first tested their natural talent and the rudiments of learning and their zeal and labor in studying. 5. But those exoterika hearings and the exercise of speaking he conducted in the same place in the evening and offered them to young men in general without selection, and he called this the deilinon peripateton, the other, earlier, the heothinon; for at both times, walking, he discoursed.

VI. Libros quoque suos, earum omnium rerum conmentarios, seorsum divisit, ut alii "exoterici" dicerentur, partim "acroatici". VII. Eos libros generis "acroatici" cum in vulgus ab eo editos rex Alexander cognovisset atque ea tempestate armis exercitum omnem prope Asiam teneret regemque ipsum Darium proeliis et victoriis urgeret, in illis tamen tantis negotiis litteras ad Aristotelem misit non eum recte fecisse, quod disciplinas acroaticas, quibus ab eo ipse eruditus foret, libris foras editis involgasset: VIII. "Nam qua" inquit "alia re praestare ceteris poterimus, si ea, quae ex te accepimus, omnium prosus fient communia?

6. He also divided his own books, commentaries on all those matters, separately, so that some should be called “exoteric,” and some “acroatic.” 7. When King Alexander learned that those books of the “acroatic” kind had been published by him to the public, and at that time by force of arms, with his army, held nearly all Asia and was pressing King Darius himself with battles and victories, yet amid those so great affairs he sent letters to Aristotle, that he had not done rightly in having made the acroatic disciplines—by which he himself had been educated by him—public by publishing books abroad: 8. “For by what other thing,” he says, “will we be able to excel the rest, if the things which we received from you shall altogether become common to all?”

quippe ego doctrina anteire malim quam copiis atque opulentiis." IX. Rescripsit ei Aristoteles ad hanc sententiam: "Acroaticos libros, quos editos quereris et non proinde ut arcana absconditos, neque editos scito esse neque non editos, quoniam his solis cognobiles erunt, qui nos audiverunt." X. Exempla utrarumque litterarum sumpta ex Andronici philosophi libro subdidi. An autem prosus in utriusque epistula brevitatis elegantissimae filum tenuissimum ... XI. Alexandros Aristotelei eu prattein. Ouk orthos epoiesas ekdous tous akroatikous ton logon.

for indeed I would prefer to excel by doctrine rather than by forces and opulence." 9. Aristotle wrote back to him to this purport: "Know that the acroatic books, which you complain have been published and not accordingly hidden as arcana, are neither published nor not published, since they will be cognoscible to those only who have heard us." 10. I have subjoined examples of both letters, taken from the book of the philosopher Andronicus. But whether altogether in each letter the very slender thread of most elegant brevity ... 11. Alexander to Aristotle: fare well. You did not do right in publishing the acroatic discourses.

Tini gar de dioisomen hmeis ton allon, ei kath'hous epaideuthemen logous, houtoi panton esontai koinoi? Ego de bouloimen an tais peri ta arista empeiriais e tais dynamesin diapherein. Erroso.

For by what, then, shall we be distinguished from the others, if the discourses according to which we have been educated are going to be common to all? But I, for my part, would prefer to excel in experiences concerning the best things, or in powers. Farewell.

XII. Aristoteles basilei Alexandroi eu prattein. Egrapsas moiperi ton akroatikon logon oiomenos dein autous phylattein en aporrhetois.

12. Aristotle to King Alexander, fare well. You wrote to me about the acroatic discourses, thinking that they ought to be kept in secrecy.

Isthi oun autous kai ekdedomenous kai me ekdedomenous; xynetoi gar eisin monois tois hemon akousasin. Errhoso, Alexandre basileu. XIII.

Know then that they are both published and not published; for they are intelligible only to those who have listened to us. Farewell, King Alexander. 13.

Hoc ego verbum xynetoi gar eisin quaerens uno itidem verbo dicere aliud non repperi, quam est scriptum a M. Catone in sexta origine: "Itaque ego" inquit "cognobiliorem cognitionem esse arbitror."

Seeking to express this phrase, "xynetoi gar eisin," likewise with a single word, I have found no other than what is written by M. Cato in the sixth book of the Origines: "And so," he says, "I judge cognition to be more cognoscible."

VI. Quaesitum atque tractatum, utrum siet rectius dicere, "habeo curam vestri", an "vestrum".I. Percontabar Apollinarem Sulpicium, cum eum Romae adulescentulus sectarer, qua ratione diceretur "habeo curam vestri" aut "misereor vestri" et iste casus "vestri" eo in loco quem videretur habere casum rectum. II. Is hic mihi ita respondit: "Quaeris" inquit "ex me, quod mihi quoque est iamdiu in perpetua quaestione. Videtur enim non "vestri" oportere dici, sed "vestrum", sicuti Graeci locuntur: epimeloumai hymon, kedomai hymon, in quo loco hymon aptius "vestrum" dicitur quam "vestri" et habet casum nominandi, quem tu "rectum" appellasti, "vos". III.

6. Inquired and treated, whether it be more correct to say, "habeo curam vestri," or "vestrum."1. I used to question Apollinaris Sulpicius, when as a rather young man I followed him at Rome, by what rationale "habeo curam vestri" or "misereor vestri" was said, and what direct case that form "vestri" in that place would seem to have. 2. He answered me thus: "You ask of me something which for me too has long been in perpetual question. For it seems that it ought not to be said 'vestri' but 'vestrum,' just as the Greeks speak: epimeloumai hymon, kedomai hymon, in which place hymon is more aptly rendered by 'vestrum' than by 'vestri,' and has as the nominative case, which you called 'direct,' 'vos'." 3.

Invenio tamen" inquit "non paucis in locis "nostri" atque "vestri" dictum, non "nostrum" aut "vestrum". L. Sulla rerum gestarum libro secundo: "Quod si fieri potest, ut etiam nunc nostri vobis in mentem veniat, nosque magis dignos credatis, quibus civibus quam hostibus utamini quique pro vobis potius quam contra vos pugnemus, neque nostro neque maiorum nostrorum immerito nobis id continget." IV. Terentius in Phormione: ita plerique ingenio sumus omnes, nostri nosmet paenitet. V. Afranius in togata: nescioqui nostri miseritust tandem deus. VI. Et Laberius in Necyomantia: dum diutius detinetur, nostri oblitus est.

"I find, however," he said, "in not a few places 'nostri' and 'vestri' used, not 'nostrum' or 'vestrum'." L. Sulla in the second book of his deeds: "But if it can be brought to pass that even now the thought of us comes to your mind, and that you judge us more worthy—whom you should employ as citizens rather than as enemies and who would fight for you rather than against you—it will befall us not undeservedly, neither on our own account nor on that of our ancestors." 4. Terence in Phormio: thus for the most part we are all by natural character, we ourselves are dissatisfied with ourselves. 5. Afranius in a Togata: some god at last has taken pity on us. 6. And Laberius in Necyomantia: while he is detained rather long, he has forgotten us.

VII. "Dubium porro" inquit "non est, quin eodem haec omnia casu dicantur: "nostri paenitet," "nostri oblitus est", "nostri misertus est", quo dicitur: "mei paenitet", "mei misertus est", "mei oblitus est". VIII. "Mei" autem casus interrogandi est, quem "genetivum" grammatici vocant, et ab eo declinatur, quod est "ego"; huius deinde plurativum est "nos". ["Tui" aeque declinatur ab eo, quod est "tu"; huius itidem plurativum est "vos".] IX. Sic namque Plautus declinavit in Pseudolo in hisce versibus: si ex te tacente fieri possem certior, ere, quae miseriae te tam misere macerent, duorum labori ego hominum parsissem lubens: mei te rogandi et tis respondendi mihi.

7. “Further,” he says, “it is not doubtful that all these are said in the same case: ‘nostri paenitet,’ ‘nostri oblitus est,’ ‘nostri misertus est,’ in which is said: ‘mei paenitet,’ ‘mei misertus est,’ ‘mei oblitus est.’ 8. “But ‘mei’ is the case of questioning, which the grammarians call the ‘genitive,’ and it is declined from that which is ‘ego’; its plural thereafter is ‘nos.’ [‘Tui’ likewise is declined from that which is ‘tu’; its plural likewise is ‘vos.’] 9. “Thus indeed Plautus declined in the Pseudolus in these verses: if I could, with you keeping silent, be made more certain, master, what miseries so miserably waste you, I would gladly have spared the labor of two men: the labor of my asking you and of your responding to me.”

"Mei" enim Plautus hoc in loco non ab eo dixit, quod est "meus", sed ab eo, quod est "ego". X. Itaque si dicere velis "patrem mei" pro "patrem meum", quo Graeci modo ton patera mou dicunt, inusitate quidem, sed recte profecto eaque ratione dices, qua Plautus dixit "labori mei" pro "labori meo". XI. Haec autem ipsa ratio est in numero plurativo, qua Gracchus "misereri vestrum" dixit et qua M. Cicero "contentio vestrum" et "contentione nostrum" dixit quaque item ratione Quadrigarius in annali undevicesimo verba haec posuit: "C. Mari, ecquando te nostrum et reipublicae miserebitur!" Cur igitur Terentius "paenitet nostri", non "nostrum", et Afranius "nostri miseritus est", non "nostrum"? XII. Nihil hercle" inquit "mihi de ista re in mentem venit, nisi auctoritas quaedam vetustatis non nimis anxie neque superstitiose loquentis. Nam sicuti multifariam scriptum est "vestrorum" pro "vestrum", ut in Plauti Mostellaria in hoc versu: verum illuc esse maxima pars vestrorum intellegit, cum vellet "maxima pars" dicere "vestrum", ita nonnumquam "vestri" quoque dictum est pro "vestrum". XIII.

For “mei” Plautus in this place did not speak from that which is “meus,” but from that which is “ego.” 10. And so if you should wish to say “patrem mei” in place of “patrem meum,” in the way in which the Greeks say ton patera mou, unusual indeed, but surely correctly, and you will say it by the same reasoning by which Plautus said “labori mei” in place of “labori meo.” 11. Moreover, this very rationale holds in the plural number, by which Gracchus said “misereri vestrum” and by which M. Cicero said “contentio vestrum” and “contentione nostrum,” and by which likewise Quadrigarius in the nineteenth annal set down these words: “Gaius Marius, when at last will you pity us and the Republic!” Why then does Terence have “paenitet nostri,” not “nostrum,” and Afranius “nostri miseritus est,” not “nostrum”? 12. “By Hercules, nothing about that matter comes to my mind,” he says, “except a certain authority of antiquity not speaking over-anxiously nor superstitiously. For just as ‘vestrorum’ has in many places been written for ‘vestrum,’ as in Plautus’s Mostellaria in this verse: ‘but that there the greatest part of you understands,’ when he wished to say ‘the greatest part of you,’ so sometimes ‘vestri’ also has been said for ‘vestrum’.” 13.

Sed procul dubio, qui rectissime loqui volet, "vestrum" potius dixerit quam "vestri". XIV. Et idcirco inportunissime" inquit "fecerunt, qui in plerisque Sallusti exemplaribus scripturam istam sincerissimam corruperunt. Nam cum ita in Catilina scriptum esset: "Saepe maiores vestrum miseriti plebis Romanae", "vestrum" obleverunt et "vestri" superscripserunt.

But beyond doubt, whoever will wish to speak most correctly would say "vestrum" rather than "vestri". 14. And therefore most inopportunely," he says, "have those acted, who in very many copies of Sallust corrupted that most pure reading. For whereas it had been written thus in the Catiline: "Oftentimes the ancestors of you took pity on the Roman plebs," they wiped out "vestrum" and wrote above "vestri".

Ex quo in plures libros mendae istius indoles manavit." XV. Haec memini mihi Apollinarem dicere, eaque tunc ipsa, ita ut dicta fuerant, notavi.

Whence the nature of that fault has flowed into several books." 15. I remember Apollinaris saying these things to me, and at that very time I noted them down just as they had been said.

VII. ...I. Mira et prope adeo ridicula diversitas fabulae apud Graecos poetas deprenditur super numero Niobae filiorum. II. Nam Homerus pueros puellasque eius bis senos dicit fuisse, Euripides bis septenos, Sappho bis novenos, Bacchylides et Pindarus bis denos, quidam alii scriptores tres fuisse solos dixerunt.

7. ...1. A wondrous and indeed almost ridiculous diversity of the fable is detected among the Greek poets concerning the number of Niobe’s children. 2. For Homer says her boys and girls were twice six (12), Euripides twice seven (14), Sappho twice nine (18), Bacchylides and Pindar twice ten (20), while certain other writers said there were only three.

VIII. De his, quae habere symptosian videntur cum luna mansuescente ac senescente.I. Annianus poeta in fundo suo, quem in agro Falisco possidebat, agitare erat solitus vindemiam hilare atque amoeniter. II. Ad eos dies me et quosdam item alios familiaris vocavit. III.

8. On those things which seem to have a “symptosis” with the moon as she becomes gentle and grows old.1. Annianus the poet on his farm, which he possessed in the Faliscan countryside, was accustomed to celebrate the vintage merrily and pleasantly. 2. For those days he invited me and likewise certain other intimates. 3.

Ibi tum cenantibus nobis magnus ostrearum numerus Roma missus est. Quae cum adpositae fuissent et multae quidem, sed inuberes macriusculaeque essent, "luna" inquit Annianus "nunc videlicet senescit; ea re ostrea quoque, sicuti quaedam alia, tenuis exsuctaque est." IV. Cum quaereremus, quae alia item senescente luna tabescerent, "nonne Lucilium" inquit "nostrum meministis dicere: luna alit ostrea et implet echinos, muribus fibras et iecur addit? V. Eadem autem ipsa, quae crescente luna gliscunt, deficiente contra defiunt.

There then, while we were dining, a great number of oysters, sent from Rome, arrived. When they had been set out and were indeed many, but unripe and rather lean, “the moon,” said Annianus, “is evidently now growing old; for that reason the oyster too, just as certain other things, is thin and sucked-dry.” 4. When we asked what other things likewise, with the moon aging, waste away, “do you not remember,” he said, “our Lucilius saying: the moon nourishes oysters and fills sea-urchins, and adds sinews and liver to mice”? 5. But those very same things which, with the moon waxing, grow, with it waning, on the contrary, diminish.

VI. Aelurorum quoque oculi ad easdem vices lunae aut ampliores fiunt aut minores. VII. Id etiam" inquit "multo mirandum est magis, quod apud Plutarchum in quarto in Hesiodum commentario legi: "Cepetum revirescit et congerminat decedente luna, contra autem inarescit adolescente.

6. The eyes of cats also, at the same changes of the moon, become either larger or smaller. 7. "That too," he said, "is much more to be marveled at, which I read in Plutarch, in the fourth commentary on Hesiod: "The onion-bed grows green again and sprouts afresh as the moon is waning; but on the contrary it withers as she is waxing."

Eam causam esse dicunt sacerdotes Aegyptii, cur Pelusiotae cepe non edint, quia solum olerum omnium contra lunae augmenta atque damna vices minuendi et augendi habeat contrarias"."

The Egyptian priests say that that is the cause why the Pelusiotes do not eat onion, because it alone of all vegetables has contrary cycles of diminishing and increasing to the moon’s augmentations and diminutions"".

IX. Qualibus verbis delectari solitus sit Antonius Iulianus positis in mimiambis Cn. Matii; et quid significet M. Cato in oratione, quam scripsit de innocentia sua, cum ita dictitat: "numquam vestimenta a populo poposci".I. Delectari mulcerique aures suas dicebat Antonius Iulianus figmentis verborum novis Cn. Matii, hominis eruditi, qualia haec quoque essent, quae scripta ab eo in mimiambis memorabat: II. sinuque amicam refice frigidam caldo columbulatim labra conserens labris. III. Item id quoque iucunde lepideque fictum dictitabat: iam tonsiles tapetes ebrii fuco quos concha purpura imbuens venenavit.

9. With what words Antonius Julianus was wont to be delighted, set down in the mimiambics of Cn. Matius; and what M. Cato signifies in the oration which he wrote about his innocence, when he keeps saying thus: "I never demanded garments from the people".1. Antonius Julianus said that his ears were delighted and soothed by the new figments of words of Cn. Matius, a learned man—such as also were these, which he recalled as written by him in mimiambics: 2. and with your bosom refresh your girlfriend, cold, with warmth, dove-wise, joining lips to lips. 3. Likewise he kept saying that this too was pleasantly and charmingly feigned: now the shorn tapestries, drunk with dye, which the shell-purple, imbuing, has poisoned.

...

X. ...I. "Ex iure manum consertum" verba sunt ex antiquis actionibus, quae, cum lege agitur et vindiciae contenduntur, dici nunc quoque apud praetorem solent. II. Rogavi ego Romae grammaticum, celebri hominem fama et multo nomine, quid haec verba essent? Tum ille me despiciens "aut erras," inquit "adulescens, aut ludis; rem enim doceo grammaticam, non ius respondeo; si quid igitur ex Vergilio, Plauto, Ennio quaerere habes, quaeras licet." III.

10. ...1. "Ex iure manum consertum" are words from ancient legal actions, which, when one proceeds by statute and possessory claims are contended, are even now accustomed to be said before the praetor. 2. I asked in Rome a grammarian, a man of celebrated fame and much name, what these words were? Then he, looking down on me, said: "Either you err, young man, or you jest; for I teach the grammatical discipline, I do not give responses on law; if therefore you have anything to ask about Vergil, Plautus, Ennius, you may ask." 3.

"Ex Ennio ergo" inquam "est, magister, quod quaero. IV. Ennius enim verbis hisce usus est." Cumque ille demiratus aliena haec esse a poetis et haud usquam inveniri in carminibus Ennii diceret, tum ego hos versus ex octavo annali absentes dixi - nam forte eos tamquam insigniter praeter alios factos memineram -: pellitur e medio sapientia, vi geritur res; spernitur orator bonus, horridus miles amatur. Haut doctis dictis certantes nec maledictis miscent inter sese inimicitiam agitantes, non ex iure manum consertum, sed magis ferro rem repetunt regnumque petunt, vadunt solida vi. V. Cum hos ego versus Ennianos dixissem, "credo" inquit grammaticus "iam tibi.

"From Ennius, then," I said, "is what I inquire, master. 4. For Ennius used these words." And when he, marveling, said that these were alien to poets and were found nowhere in the songs of Ennius, then I recited these verses from the eighth Annal, without the book present—for by chance I remembered them as made remarkably beyond the others—: wisdom is driven out from the midst, the affair is conducted by force; the good orator is spurned, the rough soldier is loved. Not by learned sayings contending nor by maledictions do they mingle, stirring up enmity among themselves, not, according to law, to join hands, but rather with iron they reclaim the matter and seek a kingdom; they go with solid force. 5. When I had spoken these Ennian verses, "I believe you now," said the grammarian.

Sed tu velim credas mihi Quintum Ennium didicisse hoc non ex poeticae litteris, set ex iuris aliquo perito. Eas igitur tu quoque" inquit "et discas, unde Ennius didicit." VI. Vsus consilio sum magistri, quod docere ipse debuerat, a quo discerem, praetermonstrantis. Itaque id, quod ex iureconsultis quodque ex libris eorum didici, inferendum his conmentariis existimavi, quoniam, in medio rerum et hominum vitam qui colunt, ignorare non oportet verba actionum civilium celebriora.

But I would have you believe that Quintus Ennius learned this not from poetic literature, but from some expert in law. “Go, then, you too,” he said, “and learn whence Ennius learned.” 6. I made use of the teacher’s counsel, one pointing out from whom I should learn what he himself ought to have taught. And so what I learned from the jurisconsults and from their books I judged should be inserted into these commentaries, since those who cultivate life in the midst of affairs and of men ought not to be ignorant of the more celebrated words of civil actions.

VII. "Manum conserere" ... Nam de qua re disceptatur in iure in re praesenti, sive ager sive quid aliud est, cum adversario simul manu prendere et in ea re sollemnibus verbis vindicare, id est "vindicia". VIII. Correptio manus in re atque in loco praesenti apud praetorem ex duodecim tabulis fiebat, in quibus ita scriptum est: "si qui in iure manum conserunt." IX. Sed postquam praetores propagatis Italiae finibus datis iurisdictionibus negotiis occupati proficisci vindiciarum dicendarum causa ad longinquas res gravabantur, institutum est contra duodecim tabulas tacito consensu, ut litigantes non in iure apud praetorem manum consererent, sed "ex iure manum consertum" vocarent, id est alter alterum ex iure ad conserendam manum in rem, de qua ageretur, vocaret atque profecti simul in agrum, de quo litigabatur, terrae aliquid ex eo, uti unam glebam, in ius in urbem ad praetorem deferrent et in ea gleba tamquam in toto agro vindicarent.

7. "To join hands" ... For the matter about which there is dispute in law in the thing present, whether it is a field or something else, to seize it together by hand with one’s adversary and in that matter to vindicate by solemn words, that is, a vindication (vindicatio). 8. A laying-on of the hand in the thing and on the spot before the praetor used to be done under the Twelve Tables, in which it is written thus: "if any persons in law join hands." 9. But after the praetors—when the boundaries of Italy had been extended and, jurisdictions having been assigned, they were occupied with business—were burdened to set out for the sake of pronouncing the vindiciae upon far-off matters, it was established contrary to the Twelve Tables by tacit consent that the litigants should not join hands in law before the praetor, but should "call to join hands from law," that is, the one should summon the other from law to the joining of hands upon the thing about which suit was being brought; and, having set out together into the field about which there was litigation, they would carry some earth from it—say, a single clod—into court in the city before the praetor, and upon that clod they would vindicate as though upon the whole field.

X. Idcirco Ennius significare volens non, ut ad praetorem solitum est, legitumis actionibus neque ex iure manum consertum, sed bello ferroque et vera vi atque solida ...; quod videtur dixisse conferens vim illam civilem et festucariam, quae verbo diceretur, non quae manu fieret, cum vi bellica et cruenta.

10. Therefore Ennius, wishing to signify not, as is customary before the praetor, by lawful actions nor by “to go to lay hands together according to law,” but by war and iron and true and solid force ...; which he seems to have said by comparing that civil and festucary force, which would be spoken by word, not done by hand, with warlike and bloodstained force.

XI. ...I. P. Lavini liber est non incuriose factus. Is inscriptus est de verbis sordidis. II. In eo scripsit "sculnam" vulgo dici quasi "seculnam"; "quem, qui elegantius" inquit "loquuntur, "sequestrem" appellant." III.

11. ...1. The book of P. Lavinius is not incuriously made. It is entitled On Sordid Words. 2. In it he wrote that "sculna" is commonly said, as if "seculna"; "which, those who speak more elegantly," he says, "call "sequester"." 3.

Vtrumque vocabulum a sequendo factum est, quod eius, qui electus sit, utraque pars fidem sequatur. IV. "Sculnam" autem scriptum esse in logistorico M. Varronis, qui inscribitur Catus, idem Lavinius in eodem libro admonet. V. Sed quod apud sequestrem depositum erat, "sequestro positum" per adverbium dicebant.

Both terms are made from “to follow,” because the good faith of him who has been chosen is followed by both parties. 4. Moreover, that “sculna” was written in the logistoricus of M. Varro, which is entitled Catus, the same Lavinius notes in the same book. 5. But what had been deposited with a sequester, they used to say “sequestro positum” by way of an adverb.

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